This will be an opportunity for collectors to acquire new additions, with seventy new portrait miniatures available, prices ranging from £1000.
Highlights include enamels, with a magnificent portrait of Frederick Duke of York (fig. 1), in the original presentation frame, probably acquired by his brother George IV in 1827. Much earlier examples include a portrait of young woman in pink by Jean Petitot, enamelled circa 1645 (fig. 2).
Following the royal theme, a drawing of George IV as Prince of Wales by his principal image-maker, Richard Cosway shows the prince as 'defender of the nation' in armour (fig. 3).
Several drawings by John Smart are also for sale, the stunning 'Mrs Fitzhughes' in a blue and yellow 'Van Dyck' gown (fig. 4). Examples by artists rarely seen are also in this exhibition - Alexander Cooper, younger brother of Samuel, who spent much of his career abroad, is represented with a portrait of the young red-headed noble Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke (fig. 5). A portrait of the ambitious Louis de Dufort, 2nd Earl of Feversham, is shown by the seventeenth century artist Werner Hassel, who worked with the oil painter Godfrey Kneller (fig. 6).
